Central Park: Mouse-Over/Mouse Movement

We wanted to allow creatives to use mouse control functionality to direct video experiences and were impressed by Oliver Otten's work at http://www.selfcontrolfreak.com.

We had to strike a balance between building in enough functionality for it to be good and usable but not so much that the underlying .swf becomes bigger (slower to load) or the scripting code becomes too complex. This simple demo shows how mouse up, down, out and movement can be used to direct video.

The shoot was short, simple (again in Central Park) and functional, so you will see jump cuts (which could have been avoided by using two cameras) and sun/lighting changes (which would have been mitigated in a professional shoot).

INSTRUCTIONS

* Mouse anywhere over the frame to start. Wait until Matthew is in the center, then:

* Mouse out of frame to the left to walk left, pause, then mouse over frame to re-enter.

* Mouse out of frame to the right to jog right, pause, then mouse over frame to re-enter.

* Mouse out of frame to the bottom for push-ups. On the 4th or 5th push-up (only), mouse into frame, wait, and a small gray square will appear. Mouse over the gray square and a big bottle will appear. Drag the bottle and release in the hand to drink.

* Mouse out of frame to the top for jumping jacks. On the 4th jumping jack (only), mouse into frame, wait, and a small gray square will appear. Mouse over the gray square and a big bottle will appear. Drag the bottle and release in the hand to drink.

* Drag torso from center towards edge (up, down, left or right) and release to achieve same actions as mouse out of frame above.

* In all cases, video is ready for new command only when old video FINISHES.

Try it!